Page 46 - The Divine Quest

The Divine Quest Page 43

saints of God whom we read about as overcomers. But let me assure you, they all
experienced these same fleshly battles.

Abraham, the father of faith, was afraid that he would be killed by foreigners when
he sojourned in their land because of the beauty of his wife. He therefore had her
passed off as his sister and she was even taken to be another man’s wife on two
occasions, but God protected her from any sexual involvement.

Jacob ran for his life from the anger of his brother who vowed to kill him. He later
deceived his father-in-law and snuck away from his household to avoid a
confrontation with him. Later, as he approached his homeland, he was gripped
with fear at the prospect of meeting his brother again and he was afraid that he
and his wives and children would be killed. He took steps to at least spare some of
them, even when God had told him to return to his homeland and God vowed to be
with him.

David, who is often thought to be as fearless of an individual as there ever was,
wrote so many Psalms that expressed how his soul was being overwhelmed by his
trials and adversaries that it is impossible to think that he didn’t struggle with these
same human feelings of weakness. He cried out over and over for God to come to
him quickly lest he should perish and his soul should be swallowed up in despair.

But how about the New Testament? Wasn’t Paul a man who endured so many
things and who did so courageously without any fear at all? Listen to his own
words.

I Corinthians 2:1-4
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of
wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know
nothing among you except Yahshua the Messiah, and Him crucified. And I was
with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my
message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power...

It seems somehow incongruent that Paul could preach “in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power,” yet he was physically “in weakness and in fear and in much
trembling.” Yet Paul understood that God’s power is not shown through our natural
strength, but through our weakness. It is in our weakness that we deem ourselves
incapable of performing anything of eternal value so that we throw ourselves
unreservedly over onto the Father and say “God, if anything of worth or value is
to come forth it must come from You, for I am unable to accomplish it.” This
acknowledgment of our weakness opens the door for the power of God to be